Dr. Don King

Professor of English, Faculty Fellow
Studies in History, Language, and Literature
Faculty of Christianity, Culture, and Human Expression

Dr. Don King arrived at Montreat College in 1974 after earning a B.A. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an M.A. from Southern Illinois University. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1985. Dr. King served as the editor of the Christian Scholar’s Review from 1999-2015. An active researcher and writer, Dr. King has published numerous books and over 60 articles. He is also a recipient of the distinguished Professor of the Decade award. Dr. King loves teaching literature courses and enjoys reading, researching, and writing. He teaches courses in British literature with a focus on Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, Romantic literature, Victorian literature, and 20th century British literature. Dr. King is also a C.S. Lewis scholar. He has published five books concerning Lewis, including Plain to the Inward Eye: Selected Essays on C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse, Hunting the Unicorn: A Critical Biography of Ruth Pitter, Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman, and Yet One More Spring: A Critical Study of the Works of Joy Davidman. He has also contributed articles on C.S. Lewis’s poetry to The C.S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia and to C.S. Lewis—Life, Works, and Legacy. Twice he has led week-long summer seminars on Lewis at Lewis’s home, the Kilns, for the C.S. Lewis Foundation’s Summer Seminars in Residence Program. Learn more about Dr. King

Bibliography

King, Don W. Inkling, Soldier, and Brother: A Life of Warren Hamilton Lewis. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2023.
🏆2023 Bronze IPPY Award (Independent Publisher Book Awards),
World History Category.

King, Don W. “Imagining the Kilns” in Critical Insights to C.S. Lewis. Ed. Robert C. Evans. (Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing, 2023).

King, Don. “Selected Letters of Warren Lewis to Jill Flewett.” Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal, 15 , 2021, pp. 101–110.

King, Don. “Cousin to Cousin: Joy Davidman’s Correspondence with Edward Rosenthal.” Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal, 15 , 2021, pp. 111–119.

King, Don W. “Warren Lewis: The Soldier Sailor.” Journal of Inklings Studies 11.1 (April 2021): 58-69.

King, Don W. “When Did the Inklings Meet? A Chronological Survey of Their Gatherings: 1933-1953.” Journal of Inklings Studies 10.2 (October 2020): 184–204.

King, Don W. “Warren Lewis and the Lewis Papers.” VII, Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center 37 (2020): 111-122.

King, Don W. “Introduction to The Quest of Bleheris.” Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal 14 (2020):19-32.

King, Don W., Ed. “The Quest of Bleheris” by C. S. Lewis. Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal 14 (2020): 32-80.

King, Don W. “C. S. Lewis and George Herbert’s The Temple.” Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal 14 (2020): 141-166.

King, Don W. “Warnie at War: 1914-1918” in VII: The Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center 35 (2018): 87-110.

King, Don W. Sudden Heaven: The Collected Poems of Ruth Pitter. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2018.

King, Don W. “Warren Lewis, Mrs. Janie King Moore, and The Kilns.” Journal of Inklings Studies 7.1 (April 2017): 103-117.

King, Don W. “Finding Joy.” Review of Joy by Abigail Santamaria. Books & Culture 22.2 (March/April 2016): 30, 32.

King, Don W. “Reflection: A Dream.” Christian Scholar’s Review 44.4 (Summer 2015): 331- 332.

King, Don W. “Reflection: On Reading.” Christian Scholar’s Review 44.3 (Spring 2015): 203- 206.

King, Don W. “Reflection: Standing on the Shoulders of Others.” Christian Scholar’s Review 44.2 (Winter 2015): 111-115.

King, Don W. “George Herbert, The Temple” (67-92). C.S. Lewis’s List: The Ten Books That Influenced Him Most. Eds. David Werther and Susan Werther. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

King, Don W. Yet One More Spring: A Critical Study of Joy Davidman. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2015.

King, Don W., ed. A Naked Tree: Love Sonnets to C.S. Lewis and Other Poems by Joy Davidman. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2015.

King, Don W. “Fire and Ice: Why Did Lewis Marry Joy Davidman Rather Than Ruth Pitter?” (65-72). Women and C.S. Lewis. Eds. Carolyn Curtis and Mary Pomroy Key. Oxford, England: Lion Books, 2015.

King, Don W. The Collected Poems of C.S. Lewis; A Critical Edition. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2015.

King, Don W. “A Naked Tree: Joy Davidman’s Love Sonnets to C.S. Lewis.” Sewanee Theological Review 57 (Pentecost 2014): 246-280.

King, Don W. The Letters of Ruth Pitter: Silent Music. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 2014.

King, Don W. “Why C.S. Lewis’ Poetry Matters.” Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal 7/8 (2013- 2014): 39-52.

King, Don W. “The Art of C.S. Lewis’s Poetry.” In C.S. Lewis and the Arts; Creativity in the Shadowlands. Ed. Rod Miller. Baltimore, MD: Square Halo Books, 2013.

King, Don W. Review of C.S. Lewis, Poetry, and the Great War 1914-1918, by John Bremer. Religion and Literature 45.3 (Autumn 2013): 277-279.

King, Don W. “A Fresh Reading; The Life of C.S. Lewis.” Review of C.S. Lewis: A Life by Alister McGrath. Books & Culture 19.2 (March/April 2013): 17.

King, Don W. Plain to the Inward Eye: Essays on C.S. Lewis. Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2013.

King, Don W. “A Naked Tree: the Love Sonnets of Joy Davidman to C.S. Lewis.” SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review 29 (2012): 79-102.

King, Don W. Review of Companionship in Grief: Love and Loss in the Memoirs of C.S. Lewis, John Bayley, Donald Hall, Joan Didion, and Calvin Trillin, by Jeffrey Berman. Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal 5/6 (2011-2012): 223-224.

King, Don W. “Joy Davidman, Poet: Letter to a Comrade.” Christianity and Literature 62.1 (Autumn 2012): 243-274.

King, Don W. Review of The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis. Eds. Robert MacSwain and Michael Ward. Christianity and Literature 62.1 (Autumn 2012): 170-173.

King, Don W., ed. Taking Every Thought Captive: Forty Years of the Christian Scholar’s Review. Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2011.

King, Don W. “Into the Lion’s Den: Joy Davidman and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.” Mythlore 30.1/2 (Fall/Winter 2011): 91-106.

King, Don W. “A Sword Between the Sexes? C.S. Lewis and the Gender Debates.” Christianity and Literature 60.4 (Summer 2011): 689-693.

King, Don W. “The Early Writings of Joy Davidman.” Journal of Inklings Studies 1.1 (March 2011): 47-67.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” Christian Scholar’s Review 40.1 (Fall 2010): 5-11.

King, Don W. “Sacramentalism in the Poetry of Philip Larkin.” Christian Scholar’s Review 39.1 (Fall 2009): 57-74

King, Don W. “The English Professor as Teacher Scholar: Reflections on Faith and Learning Integration,” in The Word in the English Classroom: Best Practices of Faith Integration. Eds. Jamie Dessart and Brad Gambill. Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2009.

King, Don W. “The English Professor as Teacher Scholar: Reflections on Faith and Learning Integration.” The Word in the English Classroom: Best Practices of Faith Integration. Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2009.

King, Don W. and Joy Davidman. Out of My Bone: the Letters of Joy Davidman. Grand Rapids, MI.: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2009.

King, Don W. “Poets and Poetry: C. S. Lewis, Ruth Pitter, and Joy Davidman.” Summer Seminar in Residence in the home of C. S. Lewis, the Kilns, Oxford, UK July 3-17, 2004 and July 11-25, 2009.

King, Don W. “A Writer We Can Read for the Rest of Our Live.” Mere Christians: Inspiring Stories of Encounter with C. S. Lewis. Eds. Mary Anne Phemister and Andrew Lazo. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009

King, Don W. Review of Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Michael Ward. Christianity and Literature 58 (Autumn 2008): 130-134.

King, Don W. Hunting the Unicorn: A Critical Biography of Ruth Pitter. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2008.

King, Don W. Review of C. S. Lewis, Collected Letters: Volume III, Narnia, Cambridge and Joy, 1950- 1963. Ed. Walter Hooper. Christianity and Literature 57 (Winter 2008): 329-36.

King, Don W. Review of The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, by Diana Pavlac Glyer. The Christian Scholar’s Review 37.2 (Winter 2008): 262- 264.

King, Don W. “Hunting the Unicorn: The Nature Poetry of Ruth Pitter.” CSL: The Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 38 (July-August 2007): 1-17.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 37.1 (Fall 2007): 5-10.

King, Don W. “C. S. Lewis and Gender: ‘Positively Medieval?’” The Christian Scholar’s Review 36.4 (Summer 2007): 387-90.

King, Don W. “Columns of Light: The Preconversion Narrative Poetry of C. S. Lewis”; “Early Lyric Poetry: Spirits in Bondage (1919) and ‘Joy’ (1924)”; and “Topical Poems: C. S. Lewis’s Postconversion Poetry.” C.S. Lewis—Life, Works, and Legacy: Volume 2, Fantasist, Mythmaker, & Poet. Ed. Bruce L. Edwards. Westport, CN: Praeger, 2007, 4 vols. 209-311.

King, Don W. “Introduction to the Colloquium Issue: C.S. Lewis and Gender: ‘Positively Medieval?’” The Christian Scholar’s Review 36.4 (Summer 2007): 387-390.

King, Don W. “Joy Davidman and the New Masses: Communist Poet and Reviewer.” The Chronicle of the Oxford University C.S. Lewis Society 4.1 (February 2006): 18-44.

King, Don W. Review of G. K. Chesterton’s Early Poetry. Ed. Michael W. Perry. SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review 23 (2006): 98-100.

King, Don W. Review of The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs. Books & Culture 12.1 (Jan-Feb 2006): 18-20.

King, Don W. “Finding Joy: a Comprehensive Bibliography of the Works of Joy Davidman.” SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review 23 (2006): 69-80.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” Christian Scholar’s Review 36.1 (Fall 2006): 5-12.

King, Don W. “Gold Mining or Gold Digging? The Selling of Narnia.” Christianity and Literature 55.4 (Summer 2006): 567-586.

King, Don W. “Fire and Ice: C. S. Lewis and the Love Poetry of Joy Davidman and Ruth Pitter.” SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review 22 (2005):60-88.

King, Don W. “Enchanted: Review of The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs.” Books & Culture (Jan/Feb. 2006): 18, 21.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” Christian Scholar’s Review 35.1 (Fall 2005): 5-12.

King, Don W. “The Religious Poetry of Ruth Pitter.” Christianity and Literature 54.4 (Summer 2005): 521-562.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” Christian Scholar’s Review 34.1 (Fall 2004): 3-9.

King, Don W. Review of C. S. Lewis, Collected Letters: Volume II, Books, Broadcasts, and War 1931-1949. Ed. Walter Hooper. Christianity & Literature 54.1 (Autumn 2004): 128-133.

King, Don W. “Silent Music: The Letters of Ruth Pitter.” Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 35 (Spring 2004): 1-15.

King, Don W. “The Lost Poems of C. S. Lewis: ‘The Metrical Meditations of a Cod,’ ‘Early Poems’ and Spirits in Bondage.” Christianity and Literature 53.2 (Winter 2004): 163-201.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 33 (Fall 2003): 5-11.

King, Don W. “The Anatomy of a Friendship: The Correspondence of Ruth Pitter and C. S. Lewis, 1946-1962.” Mythlore 24 (Summer 2003): 2-24

King, Don W. Review of Imagination and the Arts in C. S. Lewis: Journeying to Narnia and Other Worlds by Peter J. Schakel. The Christian Scholar’s Review 32 (Spring 2003): 333-35.

King, Don W. “Devil to Devil: John Milton, C. S. Lewis, and Screwtape.” Lamp-Post of the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society 26.3-4 (Fall-Winter 2002): 6-18.

King, Don W. “Narnia and the Seven Deadly Sins” in Pilgrimage: The Newsletter of the Toronto C. S. Lewis Society 10.1 (November 2002): 1-8.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 32 (Fall 2002): 5-11.

King Don W. Review of C. S. Lewis: Then and Now by Wesley A. Kort. Christianity and Literature 51 (Summer 2002): 679-82.

King, Don W. Interview regarding C. S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse by Don W. King. With Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio Journal 56 (May/June 2002).

King, Don W. “Quorum Porum: The Literary Cats of T. S. Eliot, Ruth Pitter, and Dorothy L. Sayers.” SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review 18 (2001): 25-45.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 31 (Fall 2001): 5-12; “Response to Michael S. Hamilton’s ‘The Elusive Idea of Christian Scholarship,’” 28-30.

King, Don W. Review of The Soulbane Stratagem by Norman Jetmundsen. Christianity and Literature 50 (Summer 2001): 762-765.

King, Don W. Review of C. S. Lewis, Collected Letters: Volume I, Family Letters, 1905-1932. Ed. Walter Hooper. Christianity and Literature 50 (Summer 2001): 750-755.

King, Don W. Interview regarding C. S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse by Don W. King. The Lamp-Post of the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society 24.4 (Winter 2000-01): 15-20.

King, Don W. C. S. Lewis, Poet: The Legacy of His Poetic Impulse. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2001.

King, Don W. “A Grief Observed as Free Verse.” Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 32 (March 2001): 1-7.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 30 (Fall 2000): 5-10.

King, Don W. “The Religious Verse of C. S. Lewis: Part Two.” The Canadian C. S. Lewis Journal 98 (Fall 2000): 41-54.

King, Don W. “The Religious Verse of C. S. Lewis: Part One.” The Canadian C. S. Lewis Journal 97 (Spring 2000): 12-27.

King, Don W. “The Poetry of Prose: C. S. Lewis, Ruth Pitter, and Perelandra.” Christianity and Literature 49 (Spring 2000): 331-356.

King, Don W. “Notes from the Editor.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 29 (Fall 1999): 5-10.

King, Don W. “C. S. Lewis ‘The Quest of Bleheris’ as Prose Poetry.” The Lamp-Post of the Southern California C. S. Lewis Society 23.1 (Spring 1999): 3-15.

King, Don W. “Glints of Light: The Unpublished Short Poetry of C. S. Lewis.” SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review 15 (1998): 73-96.

King, Don W. “C. S. Lewis’s Spirits in Bondage: World I Poet as Frustrated Dualist.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 27 (Summer 1998): 454-474.

King, Don W. “ C. S. Lewis: A Centenary Retrospective.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 27 (Summer 1998): 404-405.

King, Don W. “The Collected Poems of C S Lewis” (134-126); “Dymer” (144-146); “Narrative Poems” (289-90); “Poems” (325-327); “Spirits in Bondage” (385-387; and eighty other short entries. The C. S. Lewis Readers’ Encyclopedia. Eds. Jeffrey D. Schultz and John G. West. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998.

King, Don W. Review of C. S. Lewis: A Companion and Guide by Walter Hooper. The Christian Scholar’s Review 27 (Fall 1997): 129-130.

King, Don W. A Bibliographic Review of C. S. Lewis as Poet: 1952-1995, Part Two. The Canadian C. S. Lewis Journal 92 (Fall 1997): 34-52.

King, Don W. A Bibliographic Review of C. S. Lewis as Poet: 1952-1995, Part One. The Canadian C. S. Lewis Journal 91 (Spring 1997): 9-23.

King, Don W. “Making the Poor Best of Dull Things: C. S. Lewis as Poet.” SEVEN: An Anglo-American Literary Review 12 (1995): 79-92.

King, Don W. Review of The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages by Harold Bloom. World 9 (November 4, 1994): 20-21.

King, Don W. Review of Realms of Gold: The Classics in Christian Perspective by Leland Ryken. The Christian Scholar’s Review 24.1 (September 1994): 82-83.

King, Don W. “Sacramentalism in the Poetry of Philip Larkin.” 1994.

King, Don W. Review of Shadowlands. Directed by Richard Attenborough. Savoy Pictures. World 8 (January 15, 1994): 21.

King, Don W. Review of A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story by William Martin. World 6 (January 4, 1992): 15.

King, Don W. Review of Word and Story in C. S. Lewis. Eds. Peter Schakel and Charles Huttar. World 6 (March 30, 1991): 14-15.

King, Don W. “Demythologizing C. S. Lewis.” Review of C. S. Lewis: A Biography by A. N. Wilson. World 5 (May 19, 1990): 14-15.

King, Don, W. “The Distant Voice in C. S. Lewis’ Poems.” Studies in the Literary Imagination 22.2 (Fall 1989): 175-184.

King, Don W. “Criticism’s a Tough Pill, But Worth Taking.” Presbyterian Survey 79 (May 1989): 3-4.

King, Don W. “The Rhetorical Similarities of C. S. Lewis and Bertrand Russell.” Mythlore 15 (Autumn 1988): 28-31.

King, Don W. “The Wardrobe as Christian Metaphor.” Mythlore 14 (Autumn 1987): 25-27, 33.

King, Don W. and Richardson Gray. “The Christian Hero and the Realistic Novel.” The Christian Scholar’s Review 16 (January 1987): 109-121.

King, Don W. “Christianity and Irony in the Fiction of Joseph Conrad.” 1987.

King, Don W. “The Childlike in George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis.” Mythlore 12 (Summer 1986): 17-22, 26.

King, Don W. “From the Journal to the Essay.” Exercise Exchange 31 (Spring 1986): 18-20.

King, Don W. “A Case for the Christian Liberal Arts College.” The Presbyterian Journal 43 (January 2 and 9, 1985): 9-10.

King, Don W. “Generating the Light Bulb Essay.” Exercise Exchange 30 (Fall 1984): 17-19.

King, Don W. “Narnia and the Seven Deadly Sins.” Mythlore 10 (Spring 1984): 14-19. Reprinted in Pilgrimage: The Newsletter of the Toronto C. S. Lewis Society 10.1 (November 2002): 1-8.

King, Don W. “Religious Hucksters.” The Presbyterian Journal 43 (May 23, 1984): 14.

King, Don W. “Teacher as Writer: Showing Is Better Than Telling.” Carolina English Teacher (1983): 14-17.

King, Don W. “Teaching Persona Through Freewriting.” Exercise Exchange 28 (Spring 1983); 21.22.

King, Don W. “Other Worlds.” HIS 43 (April 1983): 28-29.

King, Don W. and Walter Beale. “A Grading Contract That Works.” Exercise Exchange 26 (Fall 1981): 17-20. Reprinted in Writing Exercises from Exercise Exchange, Volume II. Ed. Charles Duke. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 1984.